


Retrace These Steps, That's How We Start

by chancellorclarke



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5218559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorclarke/pseuds/chancellorclarke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root meets Shaw when they're six.</p><p>Childhood AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Retrace These Steps, That's How We Start

**Author's Note:**

> Out of the woodworks to post this Childhood AU. It honestly was supposed to be this big gigantic fic but....I never finished it.

She meets Shaw when they’re six.

It’s Friday—a cloudy Friday, the kind where Root knows it’s going to rain, and hopes that they get to stay inside for lunch. It’s more fun in the classroom than outside anyway—there’s etchy-sketch and drawing on the blackboard and board games and legos and all sorts of things to do that she can’t do outside. She’s thinking about this as she’s staring out the window, her hand over her heart, saying the pledge of allegiance with the rest of her class. And as they finish reciting it, as they’re shuffling to sit down in their seats, in walks Shaw, a soft scowl on her face, her Batman lunchbox in hand, and her mother behind her, waving her goodbye.

Ms. Claypool introduces the class to her, tells them that she and her family recently moved here, to Bishop, Texas. While the class obediently greets Shaw with a “Hi, Sameen,” Shaw doesn’t seem to want to return it—so she doesn’t. Doesn’t smile, doesn’t wave, doesn’t…anything.

She just scowls. Scowls and stares.

Root’s lips quirk up in amusement.

Ms. Claypool frowns at Shaw’s apparent misbehavior and tells her to sit in her new assigned seat, right across from Root. It’s then that Shaw complies with a small nod, and as she walks over to Root’s table, Root briefly wonders if Shaw would like to play legos with her later, during recess.

 

 

*

 

 

Root doesn’t get a chance to ask. Apparently Shaw comes down with a stomach-ache thirty minutes later—at least, that’s what Shaw tells their teacher. In any case, Ms. Claypool believes her and sends her to the nurse’s office. Her mother picks her up shortly after, and Root spends her lunchtime eating alone, building a house out of legos until Ms. Claypool tells the class to clean up.

 

 

*

 

 

That doesn’t stop Root from trying the next week, though.

The following Monday, Shaw sits down across from Root again, only this time, she doesn’t raise her hand to excuse herself due to stomach pains. Instead, she stays obediently in her chair, filling out the addition and subtraction worksheet that Ms. Claypool had given them. Root wants to say something to Shaw as she’s writing down the answers on her worksheet—she does, but she doesn’t exactly know _what._ Shaw may be the new kid in class, but Root hasn’t made a friend in class since…

Well, ever.

Not because of the other classmates’ lack of trying. They have tried, but Root’s never liked any of them enough to befriend. They’re all so—for a lack of a better word—boring, and for the most part, annoying to be around. So she isolated herself from the rest of them. She finds a better use of her time anyway, and she’s been doing fine without any one of them around. And if the other students talk about her behind her back, she pays no mind to it. After all, who cares what they think?

But Shaw—Shaw’s different, somehow. Shaw does things she doesn’t expect and it makes her feel giddy and hum with excitement, but she doesn’t know why.

All she knows is that she doesn’t want to mess this up.

So she doesn’t say anything. At least, not at first. She focuses her attention on the task at hand—on the worksheet that Ms. Claypool had given them. They both do their work in silence, the scribbling of their pencils and the chatter of other students the only sound between them.

It’s not until Root finishes the worksheet—faster than any of her classmates, actually. It’s usually around this time when Root opts to take a nap, or read her library book that she keeps in her backpack, but today’s different.

Today, she has someone sitting across from her. Shaw.

So she sets her pencil down, and contents herself at watching Shaw answer her worksheet. She’s quite fast actually—not as quick as her, but faster than the rest of them. Shaw doesn’t seem to mind, or at very least, she ignores her. 

“Hi, Sameen.”

Shaw doesn’t look up, continues through the row of math problems.

Undeterred, Root continues to talk as though Shaw had responded. “I’m Sam,” Root says, a shadow of a smile on her lips.

Still, Shaw doesn’t answer.

It’s then that Root tries a different tactic. She picks up her pencil, and starts poking Shaw in the arm with the eraser end.

“Sameen,” Root tries again.

Shaw moves her arm roughly away from her pencil’s reach. “What?” Shaw asks irritably.

Root grins, because finally, Shaw had talked.

“Wanna eat with me during lunchtime?”

Shaw looks at her as though she’d grown a second head. “What makes you think I wanna eat with you?”

Root shrugs. “Because you’re new.”

Shaw gives her a look of skepticism, before going back to answering the math questions. “I’d rather eat alone.”

“But I have legos,” Root offers, hoping to convince Shaw.

Shaw gives her a look. “I thought they don’t let us carry our stuff in the playground.”

“They don’t," Root shrugs. "But these are the school’s.”

Shaw leans in her chair, crossing her arms. “You stole from the school?”

“Not permanently," Root says slyly. "I always give them back on Fridays.”

The corners of Shaw's lips tug upward as she shakes her head, letting out a small noise of what sounds like a cross between a scoff and a laugh. Root doesn't know whether Shaw's amused or annoyed, and she can't figure it out. Not by the way Shaw looks at her, and not by her body posture, and certainly not by her use words (or lack there of).

That's new. She's never had this problem before. Reading people.

Shaw sets her pencil down and looks back up at her. “What’s for lunch today?”

Root tilts her head slightly, caught off guard by the change of topic.

“Chicken nuggets.”

Shaw's eyes narrow slightly at her, the beginnings of a scowl on her lips. Root doesn't know if this is Shaw's natural setting or if it's _her_ that's causing Shaw to bristle like this. It's unnerving to Root that she can't tell which it is, but, she realizes—as Shaw arches an eyebrow at her in challenge—also thrilling. As though she's picked up a puzzle she doesn't know how to crack. Like all the rules that Root thought applied to everyone don't apply to  _her,_ and she has to relearn them, step by step. 

It's a puzzle that she  _wants_ to crack, Root finds herself thinking, and it's then that Shaw finally says:

“Give me half your chicken nuggets, and we have a deal.”

A smile blooms on Root's lips.

"Deal."

 

 

 


End file.
